Cheering ban costs 5 students their HS Diploma

Parent Cafe
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<p>It’s also what the King of Denmark and the residents of Copenhagen did during World War II. When the Nazis ordered all the Jews of Denmark to wear the yellow Star of David, the King went riding the next day in the park wearing a Star. The remainder of the population followed suit. It became very difficult for the Germans to deport the Jews. Denmark was one of the few (the only?) Nazi-occupied countries in which the majority of the Jewish population survived.</p>

<p>Similarly, a small community in the midwest was rocked by anti-Semitism when rocks were thrown through the windows of homes displaying the Chanukah menorah. Within a week, virtually every home had either a real menorah or a picture of one in its windows. The violence stopped.</p>

<p>Solidarity can move mountains.</p>

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<p>D’yer Maker, </p>

<p>I think you make a good point. The school’s aim was for a more dignified ceremony. Yet, when all is said and done, their actions and the attention they have received are all but dignified. </p>

<p>Chedva, I think you also make a good point. there is power in numbers and it is very telling that nobody called to apologize, even when they were invited to do so anonymously. I haven’t read hardly any views in support of the school’s actions in this matter. Some may support that the school had to establish some strict rules due to some out of hand graduations in the past, but how they enforced those rules is not something I have heard anyone support. So, hopefully the solidarity in the lack of apologies will be very clear, along with the public attention to this unfortunate and wrong decision that the school made with these five deserving graduates.</p>

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<p>“Similarly, a small community in the midwest was rocked by anti-Semitism when rocks were thrown through the windows of homes displaying the Chanukah menorah.”</p>

<p>(actually, it was Billings, Montana. But, anyway, west of the Palisades.)</p>

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<p>Sorry, I was having a CRAFT moment (can’t remember a friggin’ thing)! Besides, you know us Easterners - any state without a coastline on the Atlantic is “midwest” (except Vermont)!</p>

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<p>Zoosergirl graduated on Saturday and though it was one of the proudest days of my life, the actual graduation was hideous. To begin with, it was held in the gym which can accommodate 568 people (according to the fire dept.) and there were expected to be about 1200. ZG had to be there 1 1/2 hours early to get her collar on, flowers, etc. when we dropped her off we saw people lining up already so we got on line. Stood there in the blazing sun for 1 1/2 hours. Finally got in to get a seat and did get a good one, then a couple sat down next to us and we were in trouble. The gym was so crowded that there, literally, wasn’t enough room for the graduates to process. People were standing on chairs to take pictures and screaming their graduates name. It was hot as heck in there because no AC and tiny windows. Had to be over 100 degrees. The diplomas were given out in a stupid, unnecessarily time-consuming manner and then a series of long-winded awards were given to teachers. The whole thing took almost three hours, and by the time the last graduates got their diplomas, it was like sitting in Grand CEntral Station with all the people moving around. The man next to us got up 11 times. Yes 11. I finally lost it and screamed at him and threatened him with bodily harm if he got up again. I felt sorry for the poor val because NOBODY listened to her speech. It was just too uncomfortable by that point. Frankly, I would have liked the threat of withholding of diplomas held over heads to possibly get the parents to behave. There was no dignity and no decorum. Very sad.</p>

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<p>That stinks, zoosermom. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for nice weather for S’s graduation. Even on a hot day (which of course it always seems to be), it’s still better outdoors than in the school gym.</p>

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<p>And I can’t believe anyone is rude enough or stupid enough to bring an AIR HORN to a graduation ceremony :eek: !!</p>

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<p>The outcry over this decision to deny the diplomas and require community service and then to require an apology was overwhelming. Alas, the school has no supporters of this decision and has given into the pressure to award the diplomas. Threats of lawsuits, lack of support from the State Board of Education, as well as all the negative media attention contributed to the end of this situation. </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/06/06/graduation.decorum.ap/index.html[/url]”>http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/06/06/graduation.decorum.ap/index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I have the solution! Show a video of the proceedings in the ‘cry room’, where the bozos with their air horns can scream their kids names right into the ears of their ilk.</p>

<p>My dad attends graduations to give awards to middle school grads. He says you can guess when the screaming will start based on the socioeconomic level of the student. Maybe the schools should make that point very clearly prior to the ceremony.</p>

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<p>@ Chedva: That was Billings, MT that you speak of. And there was a string of similar incidents at the time, including a Native American woman whose home and garage were sprayed-painted with graffiti. Ironically (or idiotically) enough, some of the messages told her to “go back to your own country.” With that woman, over 40 local painters heard about what happened that morning and by lunchtime her house was repainted.</p>

<p>When the ignoramuses get the message from a community response that they are the ones who are the weirdos and outcasts they don’t try to stand out so much. When people are silent or apathetic, the ignoramuses suffer under the delusion that what they are doing is a valid and normal and they persist…and others are bound to follow.</p>

<p>I know the then-mayor of Billings and the then-editor of the paper. The mayor let it be known that this was not going to be tolerated. The police chief, recently retired, also sent out that message loud and clear. And the newspaper printed paper menorahs for readers to post in their windows. These guys were great leaders. It took a few people, like them, to be extraordinarily brave and take a public stand against the wave of vandalism and violence. Soon enough some more will follow them and, over time, more and more people to step up when they decide it’s safe enough to take a stand. The King of Denmark made it safe for the rest of the people to follow along.</p>

<p>In the end, if you think about it, no matter when you jump in, you’re actually a leader because you’ve just made it easier for someone else to stand up for what they believe in.</p>

<p>(I’m sure I could tie this back in to the diploma discussion somehow, but instead I’ll just apologize for the off-topic detour.)</p>

<p>EDIT (Editorial that ran with the newsprint menorahs):</p>

<p>“On December 2, 1993, someone twisted by hate threw a brick through the window of the home of one of our neighbors: a Jewish family who chose to celebrate the holiday season by displaying a symbol of faith – a menorah – for all to see. Today, members of religious faiths throughout Billings are joining together to ask residents to display the menorah as a symbol of something else: our determination to live together in harmony, and our dedication to the principle of religious liberty embodied in the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. We urge all citizens to share in this message by displaying this menorah on a door or a window from now until Christmas. Let all the world know that the national hatred of a few cannot destroy what all of us in Billings, and in America, have worked together so long to build.”
–Editorial, Billings Gazette, Dec. 1993</p>

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<p>zooz,</p>

<p>My sympathies. With our first it was very similar to yours. By the time the second rolled around, much, much better. </p>

<p>With the first the (fired later) super and her guest speaker friend spent close to an hour speaking on top of everything else for a class of 710. The next time with new super, he didn’t speak, no guest speaker and 650 kids under two hours. Which was an improvement of an hour and a half over the first.</p>

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<p>The kids got their dipolmas less than 24 hours after an attourny drafted a letter to the district and the state said it was an impossible rule to enforce fairly.</p>

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<p>last yearm when my nephew graduated, there was a shooting, the principal was shoot in the hand by something like a bb gun</p>

<p>My Sister in law had NO idea that happened, and when asked about the ceremony, said it was just lovely</p>

<p>yeah, the shooting happened during the ceremony, from what I understand</p>